The present invention relates to a conveyor for sorting generic products to packaging or cartoning machines.
More specifically, the invention relates to conveyors of the type disclosed in European Patent Application No. 91110513.8 filed on Jun. 25, 1991 in the name of the same Applicant, which comprise at least one main conveyance unit, typically two or more main conveyance units, with respective conveyor belts which move in a main conveyance direction, and at least one sorting unit provided with an auxiliary belt which moves in the main conveyance direction and with a sorting belt which moves at right angles to the main direction; the sorting unit is interposed between two main conveyance units.
In conveyors of this type, used to move food products, the main units and the sorting unit are subject to a considerable accumulation of residues left by the products conveyed, particularly residues of flour, sugar, preserves, jams and the like. These residues soil and cake not only the conveyor belts but also the guiding elements, the actuating kinematic systems and in general the entire structure of the machine, severely compromising the hygiene of the products handled and the functionality of the system.
Accordingly, it is necessary to intervene periodically to accurately clean these main and sorting units, particularly by removing the conveyor belts and cleaning them accurately or replacing them with others subjected to a prior cleaning treatment.
Currently, in known conveyors these operations are very complicated and onerous and require the intervention of skilled personnel that disassembles and reassembles the conveyance units. These disassembly, cleaning and reassembly operations usually use up an entire work shift. Considering that the frequency of the required cleaning intervention is approximately one intervention every 8-10 work shifts, the time wasted for this task is comprised between 12 and 10% of the actual production time.
These considerable downtimes, together with the costs of the skilled personnel currently involved in these disassembly, cleaning and reassembly operations, make it very onerous to manage these conveyance systems, with a consequent loss in the economic yield of the system.